Vertical-swing door for silos.



J. D. LA TIER. VERTICAL SWING DOOR FOR SILOS.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 5, 1911.

Patented Dec. 10, 1912.

Fig. 1.

witnesses.

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Inventor,

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COLUMBIA PLANODRAPH Co., WASHINGTON u c UNITED STATES PATENT @FFTCE.

JAMES D. LA TIER, 0F WATERLOO, IOWI}.

VERTICAL-SWING DOOR FOR SILOS.

Application filed September 5, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES D. LA TIER, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and a resident of \Vaterloo, Blackhawk county, Iowa, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Vertical-Swing Doors forSilos, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in vertical swing doors for silos,and the object of my improvement is to provide for a silo which has acontinuous vertical door opening, closures adapted for superposedarrangement in closing said opening, and which are hinged so as to swingvertically upward or downward as desired for convenience of access tothe interior of the silo, and to avoid undue disturbance of the ensilagetherein. This object I have accomplished by the means which arehereinafter described and claimed, and which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1' is a front exterior elevation of the part of a silo whichcontains the continuous vertical door opening, showing my improvedvertically swinging doors in position therein. Fig. 2 is a sideelevation of one of the swing doors and its hinged connections to one ofthe side frames of the door opening of the silo. Fig. 3 is a rearelevation of the brace-connection between the side frames of said dooropening. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the brace-connection shown in Fig. 3.

Similar numerals of reference designate corresponding parts throughoutthe several views.

It is in this invention, my purpose to depart from the usual method ofsecuring doorclosures to silos, which are generally hinged at the sideto swing horizontally, or made removable. My improved method of hangingthe doors is intended to be used in silos which have a verticalcontinuous door open ing extending nearly if not entirely throughouttheir height.

I have shown in Fig. 1 merely the horizontal sills 2 and 8, and thevertical side frames or beams 118 of the vertical continuousdoor-opening of a silo. The sidebeams 118 are connected and braced bymeans of the brace-connections 11, which are made preferably of metal.Each brace 11 has longitudinal strengthening ribs 16 and 21 on oppositesides, and has at each end on Specification of Letters Patent.

Serial No. 647,641.

its outer face a lug 15, in which are secured by means of nuts 19 theends of the rods 4, the latter being passed around the silo undertension to hold the structure together and assist in supporting thestress of the out wardly-pressing weight of ensilage within the silo. Oneach end of the brace 11 adj acent to the lugs 15 are upwardly and downwardly extending ears 12 and 13 respectively, provided with bolt-holesadapted to receive bolts 14 to secure them to the sidebeams 1. On therear face of each brace 11 and spaced apart from its ends, are lugs 17projecting rearwardly at right angles to the brace, and which areadapted to engage the inner faces of the beams 1. Each lug 17 isprovided with an orifice or socket opposite the socket in the other lug,and adapted to serve as bearings for the outturned ends of the arms ofthe door-hinge 7. e

The door 5 is rectangular and adapted to fit between the beams 1-18. Theends 20 of the doors are rabbeted so as to be counterparts of each otherto fit together closely when in position closing the door-opening, andis shown in Fig. 2 particularly, where the dotted lines represent thepositions of the door while at its uppermost and lowermost positions inbeing engaged or disengaged, and the same view showing in full lines theposition of the door and its hinge when extended int-o the silo interiorto the fullest extent. The door 5 is hinged so as to swing Vertically bythe following means.

The numeral 7 designates a horizontal shaft movable to rock in bearings9 on the raised braces 6 on the outside of the door. The ends of saidshaft outside or beyond said bearings are bent away therefrom atright-angles, and the ends of the bent away arms thus made are againbent to the side again or offset at right-angles and seated to rock inthe bearing-openings in the lugs 17 of said brace-connections 11. Thesaid arms 8 of the shaft 7 thus are suitably mounted to swing to andfrom the beams 1, carrying the medially suspended door 5 with them,either vertically upward or downward as may be desired. It will beobserved that the interference of a door so suspended is much less withthe ensilage in the silo, than is the case when a horizontally-swingingdoor is used, for the movement of the door being vertical, half at leastof its swing is free from interference with the ensilage which would lieusually below Patented Dec. 10, 1912.

the medial horizontal line of the door. Since the door is disengaged asindicated in the dotted lines of Fig. 2, when the ensilage is beingwithdrawn, there is but little interference and but little necessarydisplacement of the ensilage behind the door, for the door escapesupwardly obliquely, sliding away from the ensilage behind, and notpushing into it bodily. In the same way, it is easy to place and securethe door in its proper location superposed on the door below, whenfilling the silo, by withdrawing it fromits upper to bring it into itslowered position. WVhen in place, the door is secured to the beams 1 bymeans of turnlatches 10, or any other convenient detach ablefastening-means.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is:

A silo having a continuous vertical opening, spaced apart cross-piecesconnecting the sides of said opening, a series of doors for closing saidopening, such doors being rab beted at their tops and bottoms to fit onevpieces and to the door, said hinging-inember comprising horizontallyspaced apart bearings located in the medial horizontal line of the dooradjacent to its vertical edges, a rock-shaft seated in said bearings andhaving an arm at each end bent at similar angles and having their endsoppositely offset outwardly and seated in bearing brackets on thecross-piece, said door being adapted to be swung bodily up or down tofit parts of said vertical opening on either side of the cross-piece towhich its hinging-member is pivoted.

Signed at Waterloo, Iowa, this 19th day of Aug. 1911.

JAMES D. LA TIER. Witnesses:

W. H. BRUNN, G. G. KENNEDY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe f Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

